Higher Stakes [Strings: Part 1]

Chapter 10: Upon that pier

After finding a spot in the parking lot by the Santa Monica pier, Bradley locked his mustang and walked across the lot over to the dock. Sporting a white Hurley unzipped hoodie and a pair of black ripstop cargo pants with Puma shoes, he hurried over to metal rail at the edge and waited there. Gradually looking down his watch, he eventually sat down on a nearby bench.

Meanwhile, miles and miles away from him, Demi was walking along the pavement in a dark brown beaded tier dress with a pair of heels. She was mostly staring at the ground as she walks. In her head, she got very uneasy being with Trace after what he had done and to make things even more complicated, Bradley was waiting for her at the pier. She needs to make this dinner end fast.

Sitting down on a table at the far end inside the restaurant that Trace took her to, she quickly grabbed the menu and looked down at the list. Trace, on the other hand, took his time.

“Can we order?” Demi asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He insisted. Raising his hand and gesture to a female waiter to come over, he said, “I would like a Argentine Steak with more sauce and a glass of water.”

“I’ll just have mixed salad with dressing at the side and water.” Demi rushed, quickly handed over the menu to the waiter. The waiter went off and headed to the kitchen leaving the couple alone.

She rummaged through her purse, took out her blackberry to check the time. Its 8.10 pm. It’s still early. Another waiter came over with 2 glasses and a jar of water; he placed on Demi’s side and the other at Trace. He eventually pours some water and left.

Itching about the time, Demi drank up her water and checked her phone again. Luckily, Trace didn’t noticed because he was busy looking around the restaurant.

Back at the pier, Bradley was munching on a pretzel and drinking root beer. He covered his eyes with a black Ray Bans and his hoodie up his head. It’s been about one hour now and he still glued to the bench.

Moving back to the restaurant, their meals were being served. Without wasting any time, Demi grabbed a fork and jabbed it on a lettuce, stuffing it into her mouth.

Trace, who was putting the first piece of steak into his mouth, noticed her weird behavior. Slowly chewing, he carefully watched her. Demi was moving back and forth, from the salad to the water back to the salad and vice versa. “Demi…”

“Yeah?” Demi replied with her mouth full of veggies. She chewed slowly and swallowed them. Taking a sip of water, she wiped her mouth and rephrased, “Yes?”

Smirking, Trace pushed aside his steak and faced her 100%. Reaching out and grabbed her hand, he sighed, “I’m glad that we put our ‘troubles’ behind us, pretty sure nothing can mess this up again.”

Demi weakly smiled and replied, “Um, yeah.”

“Listen,” he began, looking at her mysteriously, “since this is my last night, how about we, uh, do it. So, that I can remember you even better.” He was stroking her hand.

“Sorry?” pulling her hand away, she asked him, confused. “What are you talking about?”

He smirked, “C’mon, you know what I mean, you know, ‘it’. Let’s do ‘it’, tonight. It’ll be fun.”

“Trace-?” Demi drew out, feeling disgusted. “Ew, no!”

“Hey, it’s not a big of a deal.” He stated. “Losing the big V.”

Feeling even more disgusted, Demi stood up grabbed her purse and said, “To a girl it is!” Throwing the napkin at him, she added, “Have fun at your tour.”

Everyone in the restaurant was turning their heads in their direction and started chattering. Some were glaring at Trace while the others looked apologetically at Demi. Luckily, there’s no crazy paparazzi could make the situation worse.

Demi marched out of the restaurant and out to the streets. She looked at her phone and noticed its 9.20 pm. There could still be time to head over to Santa Monica. Then she remembered something, she went there with Trace on his car. “Crap!”

Bradley was walking to the end of the pier where old folks were fishing at night. Leaning against the rail, he watched them trying to make the catch. Judging by the coolers some caught big. Reeling in and out, the fisherman cheered and called out his peers when his line got hooked. Jumping to the opportunity, the peers waste no time and helped their peer. One of them grabbed the net while the other gave directions to the fisherman.

Looking down to his watch now, it’s nearly 10 o’clock and his eyes are getting heavy. “Looks like she’s not coming at all.” He sighed.

Rubbing his eyes, he stood up from the rail and turned around. He quickly stopped.

“Sorry, I hope I’m not late.”

Right in front of him, Demi has arrived with her heels in her hand and she was panting for air. “Taxis were hard to find at the last minute so I thought about taking the bus but I have no idea which goes where. Then, I have to call Selena about and she got no clue. I called Tiffany and she has no idea at all. Then… then…” taking a deep breath, she continued, “I asked Nicole and she told me which bus I should take. So I find the next bus stop and then, it stopped just about three blocks from the pier. I started to run and, um, I was uh… stalked by paparazzi. I have to dodge them as well.” Taking another breather, “I ran and ran and started looking for you. You weren’t at the entrance so I walked in and search the stalls and the benches and… and… I am tired.” She laughed.

Couldn’t help smiling, he moved closer to her and said, “Can you walk now?”

Panting still, she slowly replied, “I think I want to sit down.”

“Granted.” He said, leading her over to an empty bench.

Demi quickly sat down and pulled up her legs, massaging it. She sighed. “I should never run in heels ever. It’s killing me.”

“Do you need water, I could get you one.” Bradley suggested.

“No, it’s okay.” Demi replied. Standing up barefoot, she went up to him and took his hand. “Sit with me, we can talk. I sort of need it.”

“Bad night?” he asked. She nodded. “Okay.” Leading her over to the bench again, they both sat down next to each other and started talking.

They talked. They laughed. They shared nachos. They shared their first night together.

Author's note:

I would like to thank for who are reading this. Please do review, I would like to know what you think. It could be about the characters or the flow of the story. 

Who do you think Demi should end up with? Bradley or Trace.